


Aftermath I

by Silverheart



Series: Bats and Birds [6]
Category: Batman: Arkham (Video Games)
Genre: Disability, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 12:38:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4522305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverheart/pseuds/Silverheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After she is shot by the Joker, Tim tries to help Barbara deal with the implications of her injury.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath I

“Just go away.”

“No.”

Barb wanted to turn away, really, just turn her back on him, but she was stuck in this stupid armchair, and couldn’t. She’d always be stuck. “Tim, please.”

He stood in front of her. “No.”

She finally looked up at him. “What am I supposed to do?”

He didn’t answer, just buried his hands in her hair. 

“I can’t…my God, there’s so much I just _can’t_ anymore.”

He swallowed. “The therapist says you’re doing well.”

She wished she could do so many things. Stand up and smacked him. Walk away. Live her life. “Well for what? A cripple?”

“Barb.” He dropped to his knees, so he was staring into her eyes. “Do you know what? None of the rest of us could last this long. We couldn’t. And if you’ve got this far, you’ll go further.”

She shut her eyes on him. “It’s hard. It’s so much harder than anything else, because…”

“Because it will never get better,” he said for her, “You’re tougher than anyone I know. And I know _Bruce_.”

She laughed in spite of herself—through the tears that were forming despite all her willpower. “Right.”

“You bet I’m right.”

“I’m just so tired of not being able to…to do anything, Tim! Physical therapy is all these questions. ‘Can you shift your hip to the left?’ ‘Can you kick your leg out?’ And most of the time I can’t.” She slammed her fists against the armrests. “ _Can’t._ Or it’s so hard, it’s like trying to push a mountain over.”

Tim didn’t say anything, and she was glad. How could he know what it was like? How could anyone?

Instead he slid one arm under her useless legs and another gently around her back. With practiced quickness, he moved them so she was sitting on his lap, encircled protectively. She blinked at the shift in position, then rested her head on his shoulder. He rested his head on hers.

“I hate it. I hate it so much,” she whispered, weeping. She, who had faced death alone, had run down violent madmen, who had laid out thugs with one hit on darkened slum nights, disarmed bombs at the last moment, she broke down and wept into Tim’s shoulder as if her heart had been torn out.

He just held her.

**Author's Note:**

> Some research reveals that paraplegia is a fairly diverse condition, because the nervous system is weird; some are paralyzed down most of their torso, others can move their hips. In the game, Oracle seems to be able to do the latter.


End file.
